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Take Notice of What Matters Most to YOU!

With the New Year now underway, there is a lot of chatter about resolutions! We have also been hearing a lot about ‘Happiness Jars’ … jotting down happy moments on small slips of paper and placing them in a jar for 365 days.

We love this idea, but not in a jar … we prefer a notebook/journal with dates on the pages or a personal size “pocket” scrapbook. The issue we have with the ‘Happiness Jar’ is what to do with all of the little scraps of paper when the year’s over. You don’t want to throw them away, but if you’re like us, a big fan of eliminating clutter … nothing says clutter more than hundreds of scraps of paper!

A personalized journal will perfectly contain all of the notes from the year, along with (if you choose) any items or photo’s you want to stick inside for extra memories along the way.

When you look back on your scribbles and notes … it can be incredibly revealing in terms of what matters most to you. Take note of these themes and try to focus more on them in the days and weeks ahead.

You Will Feel Incredibly Grateful!

You will be surprised by how grateful you feel for all of the happy moments you experience. When you think back on a year without the benefit of a ‘Celebration’ journal, you likely won’t remember all of the small things. The ‘Celebration’ journal will become record of every small moment that may have been lost between the cracks otherwise.

You Focus on Life’s Positive Moments!

One of the best things about creating a journal is the push it will give you to focus on the positive moments in your life. It’s really hard not to dwell on the things that go wrong. It’s human nature to ruminate on the tough stuff, maybe as a way to protect ourselves from future pain. However, with the creation of a ‘Celebration’ journal you will find yourself looking for the little positive moments, and searching for things to write down.

The more you look for those moments, the more you will find them. Writing these moments down will bring back a feeling of joy similar to what you experienced in the moment. It’s like getting a two-for-one deal on positive feelings.

You Create A Simple, Positive Habit!

Creating habits isn’t all that hard. Creating positive habits, on the other hand, can be a bit of a challenge.

Having a journal will help you to create a habit that is both positive and simple. Anything that’s simple but offers lots of benefits is a great sort of habit to start, don’t you think?

You Celebrate The Small Things!

When it comes to life’s happy moments, we often spend a lot of time celebrating the big events … birthdays, graduations, new babies, new puppies, big wins at work etc. and sometimes the little moments get overlooked, or forgotten.

When you create a journal, you will be constantly reminded to look for things to celebrate, causing you to look past the big events and seek the little moments of joy that happen almost every single day. All of the little moments will be recorded, providing you with a much more robust view of the joy you experienced when you look back on the year.

We would love to hear from you! What plans do you have for the New year? Leave us a comment down below.

For brainstorming tips and creative thinking hacks, be sure to follow Barefoot Brainstorming on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Like most of us, if you have spent this year plowing through your immense to-do list, orchestrating the various demands of life, it’s likely that you have overlooked what could have been a major source of daily happiness.

Your wins and accomplishments … the things that were on (or off) your to-do list, that you have actually managed to get checked off. The daily tasks you achieved throughout the year, are all huge reasons to celebrate. In fact, the smaller the ‘thing’, the more reason to celebrate!

According to research, there is incredible power in small wins. It’s the fulfillment that comes from making progress!

Each day you experience wins, both big and small, but you could be moving too fast (or you are too hard on yourself) to notice.

To always be focused on “what’s next?” can, and will deplete you. Once you make an effort to start noting and celebrating the small things, it can increase your sense of self-worth, and your happiness.

Ask yourself if during the course of 2017, you regularly glossed over some of these things:

1. You ate a healthy breakfast

2. You exercised

3. You spent time playing with a child, with your phone on mute in another room

4. You said NO to something you really didn’t want to do

5. You sat down and read something that made you think

6. You took a short walk and really appreciated your surroundings, without your phone in your pocket

One way to celebrate the small things is to keep track of them, and give yourself some rewards.

Documenting your small wins will give you visible proof of what you’ve accomplished, so that you are more likely to keep at it. It will also help shut down that inner critic who tells you that you are never doing enough.

As 2017 comes to a close, please think about the small things that made you happy this year. Write them down in a fresh journal, with your favourite pen (if you don’t have a favourite pen, buy yourself one … believe me it matters).

Then use that journal as a road map for 2018. Do more of what made you happy, and continue to celebrate the small things. Remember to honour the meaningful things in your life … the smaller the better!

We would love to hear from you! What little victories do you celebrate? Leave us a comment down below.

For brainstorming tips and creative thinking hacks, be sure to follow Barefoot Brainstorming on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.